Survival Guide
Block Fortress is a ton of fun once you figure out how to play. There's no denying that things can initially feel overwhelming. We asked Block Fortress developer Foursaken Media if they had any tips or tricks to help get new players up and running. Anyways, here are some tips and tricks to get you up and running effectively. Barracks placement Minerals are very important in Survival Mode. *'Firstly, choose a suitable spot to position your barracks. ' Move around and explore the map. It is recommended thaat you place your barracks near 2-3 mineral nodes so that you can defend your mine shafts, as well as your barracks. *'Be smart, use the terrain in your favour.' Building on a mountain top, for example, might allow you to have more open, longer range fire support, but you'll also have to cover the steeper rock faces with your defenses. Flat surfaces allow you to easily build your base since there's no need to account for terrain, but will be much more vulnerable to enemy attacks. Mining In Survival Mode, you will need plenty of minerals to survive. If you don't have enough minerals, things will seem expensive or your base will end up having little defenses. You should always start off by building one mine in your first wave. It doesn't hurt to try to build an extra mine every round for the first 3-4 rounds. 3-4 Mines should give you a nice, healthy income and allow you to build walls, turrets, and tech up your barracks at a reasonable rate. Once you unlock Mining Drills (when your character is at level 17 or so), things can change quite a bit. Mining Drills earn more minerals per round and can be stacked on top of each other for quick "strip mining" techniques i.e. to quickly use up the resources in a mineral node. Finally, remember that you WILL have to expand your base at some point in order to build more mines. Be smart about how to expand your base. Don't try to expand too much else it will be much harder for you to try to cover that space with turrets, but don't get too caught up in a small, clustered home base either, since it will cause heavy losses when the enemy attacks your defenses. Ensure that your base has enough space for you to gather minerals, yet clustered enough for all your turrets to cover that space so that they can shoot at enemies when they get close. Focus on your defenses in the beginning In the starting waves, enemies only come from one direction at a time. Pay attention to the enemy indicator in the top left, and only fortify the sides of your base that need it! By the time the harder waves come, you should have a well fortified base on all sides. It is alright to build a clustered base with only a few turrets on your barracks since enemies will only come in one direction. When enemies start to come from several directions, you should start expanding your base to allow the building of more turrets and for better coverage. Build plenty of walls & close off paths Enemies will always attack nearby important blocks that they can get to (turrets, generators, mines, your barracks, etc), so if you have an opening in your base, they will find it! Make sure to build complete sets of walls all the way around your base. You can also use "Reinforced Wall Armor" to make your outer walls even stronger. Note that all blocks are automatically repaired after each round, so you just need to be strong enough to survive a single wave! It also could be a good idea to bring a building block with you in one of your avatar's equipment slots, to do quick repair and to patch up holes in your walls as they open up. Think in 3 dimensions about your turret placement In Block Fortress, you can place turrets on any side of a block. Your first thought is probably that you want to place all your turrets snugly on top of a block, but that is not always the best thing to do. Turrets have limited firing arcs (about 35 degrees on their vertical axis), so you must place them in such a way that can protect your base from both far away and nearby targets. Putting a turret on top of a wall block for example will yield better range, at the expense of a limited downward firing angle when enemies get too close. Placing turrets on the sides of blocks gives great long range support, up and down firing support, but will only allow them a limited horizontal firing arc. Placing on the front of a wall block will give your turrets direct, downward firing support - perfect for enemies that break through your defenses and get close to your walls - but at the expense of long range fire support. Another strategy used often is placing a turret under a wall block sticking out from your base, this allows your turret to target enemies from a variety of distances or angles.Tap the finger (select) icon at the bottom and tap a turret to see their range and firing arcs, and make sure you've got you whole base covered! Get creative Don't get stuck with building classic little box bases (not to say that those are bad, per se). Use height to your advantage, and think of ways to be able to attack the enemy with as many turrets as possible, while minimizing the damage they can do to you. Make sure your turrets cover as much of the area as possible! For the example on the right, there are a couple of .50 Cal turrets facing downwards. This allows them to target enemies close to the base, eliminating them before they can do too much damage. Freeze Gun turrets are also useful for freezing enemies who are attempting to rush in. Use farms It might be a valuable investment to plant some farms early on. They take a few rounds to grow, and are the only way, other than a Stimpack, to heal your avatar. Crafting and modding your weaponry In the Crafting menu (opened from the main menu), you can modify almost any equipment or turret you have. There are mods for all types of situations, so focus on ones that will help you in areas that you struggle with. Having a hard time with night missions? Craft a "tactical light" module onto one of your favorite weapons, or get a "detector" mod for a cheap turret. Having trouble expanding your base? Get a "power source" mod for mines, so you don't need to power them with a generator. You can really modify to a lot of different styles, from a rapid fire machine pistol, to a long ranged machine gun, to a super powered sniper rifle. Again, just think of what you need the most help with in the game! *''See also Crafting / Upgrades and Mods '' Use your stuff Don't neglect your battlefield equipment! The Stimpack for example, can be modified to provide additional speed and health regen. The Spotter with "enemy ID" modification can be a great support tool for spotting shadows from long range. And of course there are the huge array of weapons, each one good for different scenarios. Again, equip things that you know will be able to help you in an area that you may be struggling in. *''See also Equipment / Weapons '' Experiment Thought of an amazing design for your base but you're not sure if it is effective? Go to Sandbox Mode and build it out! Toggle between waves of various difficulty and change the time of the attack. You would also have an infinite amount of money and minerals, allowing you to fortify your prototypes on the fly. Category:Guides